Yesterday my dad accidentally deleted some important files from his Google Drive account, even from the bin. So we gave it try to contact the Google support to restore these files having no hope to succeed. Yet it worked, we restored them, which was really great, and he was happy about it.

Although what came to my mind is the issue of privacy. It seems we don’t really own the data once we upload it to the Google servers. So obviously you are not able to get rid of your files without leaving a trace. It means that Google or basically any 3rd party such as government officials or police can nevertheless restore and access the files you thought you had deleted as they are still stored on the Google servers.

I’ve been looking through some recent photos and would like to share several weird or interesting sculptures / pieces of art from Helsinki and Tallinn.

1

Some unnamed (?) sculpture in The Rotermann Quarter – Tallinn, Estonia (Google Maps)

2

Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia – Tallinn, Estonia (Google Maps)

3

Some unnamed (?) sculpture near Musiikkitalo – Helsinki, Finland (Google Maps)

4

Tanner’s Gate (Väinö Tanner Memorial) – Helsinki, Finland (Google Maps)

5

HAM Helsinki Art Museum – Helsinki, Finland (Google Maps)

6

Sibelius Monument – Helsinki, Finland (Google Maps). Yes, the quality here sucks because this is a screenshot from a video.

7

SteamPunk – Tallinn, Estonia (Google Maps). Yes, the quality here sucks because this is a screenshot from a video.

I got an interesting idea during one of the conversations the other day.

Some people might be empathic, to a larger degree, due to the mental health issues of their parents.

In particular, based on this hypothesis, if parents are unstable in or uncertain about the way they express their emotions or attitude regarding the world surrounding them, then their children are struggling to foresee how their own actions would be judged. Even the smallest misbehavior might be punished hard today, while tomorrow the very same action might be, on the contrary, highly encouraged, following the current mood of an uncertain parent. So, children are often confused and, hence, are forced to adapt to that kind of a situation by putting extra effort to identify current mood of their educators to simply not get in trouble again. This, in turn, get them really trained in being empathic to every person they interact with.

I’ve just come to realization that my shift to consuming less social media content has been relatively easy mostly because I replaced it with the Youtube feed. I’ve been discarding this thought for quite some time, and now I just have to admit it. Youtube is becoming a new addiction.

Whenever I feel bored, lonely or need something to watch while eating, Youtube is the place to go to. And it’s been there for such a long time that these days I open it simply by default not only when I have nothing to do but also when my mind is seeking some place to hide and procrastinate. Basically it’s functioning the same way as Instagram or Facebook bulding a solid foundation for my impusive and uncontrolled consumption of content.

Having a Youtube Premium subscription doesn’t help here at all. It’s clearing out the way toward watching videos without any interruptions and keeps me in a comfortable ecosystem with Youtube Music.

Can Youtube be as harmful as traditional social media then? Seems like it can.

I got several interesting – yet, perhaps, somewhat trivial – insights after reading Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke.

• Experiencing pain is necessary to live sustainably. Facing difficulties is paramount to finding a balance between pleasure and pain, which, in turn, allows to feel pleasure in its full capacity.
• Hedonistic behavior, avoiding pain and constant craving to receiving pleasure will eventually put you in a position when, quite ironically, nothing will be bringning pleasure anymore.
• Theoretically, it is possible that practicing full honesty would stimulate the part of brain responsible for decision-making, emotional regulation, planning of future and other vital processes.

Basically, my idea to sticking to some rules is aimed at stopping myself from impulsive generation of dopamine. Avoiding difficulties and hiding from pain has nothing to do with fighting the cause of the negative feelings.

There’re lots of people who claim that they stay out of politics, that politics is dirty and they have more important business than this nonsense of voting.

You can only be out of politics in two cases: if you live on a desert island or are not very good at logic. When you say that “I am staying out of politics”, it’s better to verbalize the whole truth saying honestly, “I do not care about my future and the future of my people, I voluntarily refuse to participate in the life of my country”. By refusing to participate in politics, you delegate your power to people who may turn out to be far less conscientious than yourself.

You cannot be out of politics because you use the infrastructure, pay taxes, get a pension, use public transport, post on Instagram and Facebook. All this is determined by the policies implemented by the government. Yes, posts on social media and communication in general also involve politics to some extent because it is the government that guarantees or at least should guarantee freedom of speech.

I also come across people who believe that “politics is a dirty business”. This is false. Politics itself is neutral. Policies implemented specifically by someone else can be “dirty”. If so, then the obvious question is if you believe that your government’s policies are nasty and dirty, why aren’t you taking any action to change it for the better? Inaction legitimises the current policies and all the crimes committed by the government. By ignoring the criminal policies, you yourself become an accomplice of the crime.

Loved the quote from the latest episode of the “Дикі мандри” podcast:

I know some people who are so poor they have nothing but money.

Turned out that the Ukrainian COVID-19 vaccination certificates generated via the Diia app are not working properly everywhere.

Here in Tallinn, my QR code was scanned five times, and it did’t work at two restaurants including McDonalds. The waitresses kind of saw the basic info about my vaccination but still their systems were indicating they were not allowed to let me stay in.

Looking forward to seeing whether it will work when I’ll be trying to embark on a ferry to Helsinki later today.

Noblessner Port, Tallinn

A quote from The Comfort Book by Matt Haig clearly articulating yet another reason of why I am pushing myself to write more:

... Nowadays, I sometimes write about what I want. The key to this is honesty. Be brutally, humiliatingly honest. I recommend this.

For instance, you could write “I want a six-pack.”

And seeing that wish on the page might automatically make you realize something about it. It might make you feel silly for having it. You might already be awakening another part of you that helps you diminish the craving. But either way, it is good to ask a single-word question after it. “Why?” Why do I want a six-pack? Then to be entirely honest in your answer. “I want to look good.” And again: “Why?” “For myself.” And then you might stare at that answer for a while and feel you weren’t being entirely honest. So you add: “To impress other people.” And then, like some incessant Socrates, ask it again: “Why?” “Because I want their approval.” “Why?” “Because I want to belong.” “Why?” And you can keep going, deeper and deeper, through the tunnel of whys, until you reach the light of realization. And the realization may be that wanting the six-pack wasn’t really about the six-pack. It wasn’t about your body. It wasn’t even about health or strength or fitness. It was about something else entirely. Something that wouldn’t be fundamentally addressed or solved by gaining the six-pack.

Writing, then, is a kind of seeing. A way to see your insecurities more clearly. A way to shine a light on doubts and dreams and realize what they are actually about. It can dissolve a whole puddle of worries in the bright light of truth.